Non-familiar
by rewinderon
Summary: Saito apears in Halkeginia using a vastly different method of travel while Louise summons someone else entirely.


Chapter 1, in which Saito shows his aptitude for combat and acquires a new friend

Hiraga Saito was an average boy. He wasn't particulary good at anything. He studied for the school sometimes, but never went above 55-60/100 in any exam, he played computer games, but never was dedicated enough to take the top places in the competitive ones, and he did watch his share of anime, but never enough to become a die-hard otaku. He was also not interested in sports, having average physique at best, yet not being weak enough to be bullied. He was one of those guys. You know, the guys that blend in any environment and just kinda exist there. Did he have any talents? Who knows? Not the obvious ones, that's for sure. Deep-rooted interest in math, expressive artistic nature, passion towards the wild life or the geology – those were not the things he was known for. And as laziness does sometimes become a talent of its own, Saito wasn't that lazy – he did study once in a while. It felt that the only contest he would ever win was the contest of mediocrity, and even there he'd probably take 5th place.

That, however, didn't mean that Saito was a bad guy. Which is why today, when he was returning from the school he didn't pretend to not hear a scream from a nearby passage. He went right in. In the darkness, slightly disturbed only by the reflection of a street light he saw a very archetypic scene: a boy, on the ground, and bullies kicking him. Saito did noticed that there were three of them. Now Saito watched enough anime and read enough manga to know what he's supposed to do: announce his presence, attract attention and take the guys. Probably get beaten horribly too. But the moment he tried to do that, he felt something like an inspiration – he never had those before, he noted – and decided to forgo the gesture for some reason. Quicly he ran to the bullies, while trying not to sound too loud – that took attention, actually – and as quickly he hit one of them to the back of his head. The strike was strong, and the bully – a very big, as it turned out, guy with a hair straight from the 90's delinquent manga – took a very confused step vefore righting himself and turning to glare.

-Who the fuck are you? – He asked angrily.

The guys near him swiftly turned to face Saito too. One of them was thin – yet dangerous-looking, the others looked like boxers or something – with clearly defined muscles budging through their shirts. And at least one of them – the thin and dark one – didn't waste time on the words, taking a quick step and striking Saito.

Saito was pretty sure that by know he should be scared and confused. Instead he had something like a vision, a clear understanding of what he has to do. Dodging wouldn't do any good – the others will intervene soon, and blocking will make him lose very fast for the same reason. The move had to be very offensive, and while Saito never trained for this, the heightened awareness of the dangerous situation did work wonders He went in, ducking under the blow, and grabbed the swinging arm. The movement continued, and he quickly felt the center of mass of the striking delinquent move. Firmly placing left foot and directing all of his mass into it, Saito lifted off his left foot and quickly kicked at the bully's legs. With his arm overextended and grabbed, body continuing to move forward and legs being struck, he started not flying, but rather falling forward. Saito raised his arm, moved his shoulder up to support the weight and at the same time spun on his legs, directing the bully at his friends. The body flew – Saito's arm's upward momentum turned the glorified fall into a genuine if short-lived flight – and the boy heard the gasps. When of the bullies took the strike head-on, catching the thin delinquent with his arms, but losing balance and falling, the other stayed while lookind decidedly dumb. That left only one person – the first attacker, the "Who the fuck are you"-guy.

-No, really, who the fuck are you? – He asked once again.

"Not the brightest one", - thought Saito, while feeling a smile forming. He felt strangely at ease, as if the fact of him throwing himself into this fight somehow made it not that important if he was going to be beat to a pulp in the next minute or so.

-I'm Saito. Saw you having fun there and decided to spoil it. –He answered, then added, as if an afterthought: And you?

While the delinquent looked thrown-off with the sudden etiquette, Saito didn't want to lose the momentum, and barely a second after asking his question moved in and thrown a punch. Which connected, painfully striking the bully somewhere near the ear.

-Damn, what was that for? – The bully grunted.

Saito silently pressed his attack, but it seemed that the element of surprise was lost. The guy made a really hard block with his arms lifted up and elbows tightly pressed to the ribcage. Guy knows his stuff, - Saito thought. And then the punches came. Saito started weawing through them and noticed how the others are already near. And the bastards were smiling too! Well, Saito did know that he was probably going to get his ass handed to him here, so why not go with a bang? Cathing the punches was impossible now – they were much faster than the thin guys' ones. It took Saito's all to just avoid them. But he did avoid in a certain direction: he was slowly backing down to the street. Saito even felt kile this might work – his opponent was still tilted, judging from the scary face. And it all could play out. The thin guy was having none of it, though. He jumped from the side, telegraphing a mean-looking blow. Saito quickly stepped into the blow and then backwards, placing the thing guy with his still outstretched punch right between himself and the "who the fuck are you"-guy. Smack! Thin guy went down once again. The other big guy was here now, though.

"Wait, what about the victim?" –thought Saito. A quick glance to the side and yes, the boy was righting himself up. He even picked up his glasses and was taking the bag.

Saito decided to use this.

-Harry up, run!

The boy froze, but then took a firm expression.

-Thanks, bro! – He shouted, while taking off.

-Wait, you fucker! – Turned the big guy.

Now Saito was coming to a realization that despite wasting so many opportunities in life and at school, he really wasn't ready to miss them in a fight. With a quick chop to the back of the head, sudden punch from the other guy and one more dodge, Saito disengaged. While the one he struck was slowly turning back, and his companion really invested into his punch, Saito turned and ran like hell.

He caught himself grinning when he realized, that he's no longer chased. The sun was setting, and he was close to his home. His cheek was bruised – it seems he did poorly dodging one of the punches and didn't even noticed – but that was a welcome pain. Saito felt awesome.

It was the next morning that Saito knew: actions have consequences.


End file.
